Fiction Ed’s Blog: Faster Fiction Feedback

I was reading an interesting thread online recently, around the subject of waiting times for fiction submissions.

I hope it might be helpful if I outline some simple tips which may help your fiction submissions be read more quickly.

Be Mindful Of Word Count

The word count we receive overwhelmingly the most of, is 1200 words.

However, we only use one story of this length every issue – 52 a year.

We receive this amount many, many times over – and no matter how good they are, we can’t buy stories we don’t need.

So it might be helpful to look at other word counts, when submitting.

We Read What We Need, First

The word counts we need most of are 2000 and 3000 word stories, suitable for any issue.

The word counts we need fewest of are 1200 (one per weekly issue), 4000 (one per Special) and Long Reads (one every second Special).

About Historical Stories

In the weekly, we feature seven stories per issue, and generally speaking, six of these will have a contemporary setting.

So contemporary stories which would sit well in our weekly issues will often be read more quickly, because we need more of them.

Make Sure The File Name Is Clear

When you’re naming your Word Document, please specify word count and also season, if appropriate.

This helps make sure we read your story in good time.

What We’re Looking For Now

Fiction for our Special and “Magic Of Christmas” bookazine have been chosen, but I’m still reading Christmas fiction for both bumper festive December issues.

For our Specials, I’m now looking for post-Christmas winter stories.

For our weekly issues, I’m looking for late autumn stories.

Stories for the Annual are considered year-round.

Seasonal or time-specific stories should be submitted six months in advance.

Best of luck!